The present invention relates to a plant spray shield for spraying a plant with a chemical and with a method of spraying a plant with a chemical, especially for spraying a herbicide onto a plant while shielding a surrounding area from the herbicide.
In the past, there have been a variety of complex devices for applying chemicals to specific plants while blocking the surrounding area from the chemicals being sprayed. Herbicides are used to kill undesirable plants and weeds and all provided to the home gardener with directional spray an indiscrimnate wide angle nozzle for spraying or applying directly to a plant. However, when the plant is sprayed, the herbicide is deposited on any adjacent plants and damages or kills the adjacent plants or foliage. The present invention is directed towards a hand-held plant shield which can effectively and easily contain and isolate a weed or undesirable plant during the spraying of a herbicide while protecting adjacent or nearby desirable foliage.
A typical prior art applicator for applying a chemical to a plant may be seen in the Knooihuizen U.S. Pat No. 5,499,474, for a method and apparatus for liquid application which has a bottle and pump for pumping a liquid solution through a conduit into a hand-held applicator. The applicator has opposing pads which can be clamped onto a plant for applying the chemical thereto. The Dearhammer U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,822, is for plant cutting shears combined with a chemical applicator. A resilient fluid absorbing element holds a quantity of a herbicide or other chemical approximate the cutting blade of the shear for use in making direct fluid applying contact with the clipped plant portion. The Dixon U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,727, is a topical herbal treatment applicator for the application of a liquid treatment fluid to a plant which has opposing grasping or pressure plates for grasping the plant with a sponge or pad which directs the treatment of fluid onto the plant. In the Lehman U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,896, a controlled area boom sprayer is used for applying herbicides and includes a boom arm of changing length and angular position which carries a bell-shaped sprayer hood which is positioned with a sensing element to guide the boom so that the desired spray pattern is sprayed directly over a row of trees or bushes. The Hills U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,610, also shows an automatic sprayer supported on a boom arm which has a shielding surface placed in front of the nozzle. The Walker, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 1,598,628, shows a hood having flexible coating elements therein for moving across plants or the like. In the Jozwiak U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,065, a garden spray shield apparatus includes a flat, flexible or rigid vertical wall defining a conduit for providing protection to desired vegetation where the conduit surrounds unwanted vegetation for applying a herbicide spray to shield adjacent plants from the spray. The T. H. Palmer U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,784, is for a multipurpose pan.
The present invention relates to a one-piece manual garden spray shield which is placed around undesirable vegetation for spraying a herbicide thereon while protecting surrounding desirable vegetation. A generally funnel shaped shield has an elongated slot along one side and a handle along another side so that the shield can be quickly placed over the side of a plant stem and held in position while hand spraying the plant to thereby shield the surrounding vegetation in the application of a herbicide and thus simplify the application and shielding of a plant while utilizing an inexpensive plant shield.